Keeping our Focus on the Virgin Oil

Matthew 25:1-13

“‘Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed,  they all slumbered and slept. 

“‘And at midnight  a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom  is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 

“‘Afterward the other virgins came also, saying,  ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you,  I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you  know neither the day nor the hour  in which the Son of Man is coming.” NKJV

We just celebrated the Feast of Pentecost on May 23rd, 2021. For those who are not familiar with this Feast, it is the celebration of the 50 days after the Feast of Passover when the Holy Spirit came to a group of 120 that were praying and waiting on His coming because Jesus had promised that He would come. During the Feast of Passover we remembered the Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, His death on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and His resurrection on the third day. What followed His Resurrección some days later was His ascension back to the Father and the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell among us. 

The Spirit of the Lord came with His Holy fire that brought great manifestations of signs and wonders which helped birth the first church with thousands being added daily. The marvelous and transforming work of the consuming fire of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Apostles of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven touched the lives of a great multitude in Jerusalem and the surrounding cities.

But something that can be noted about the coming of the Holy Spirit with the fire of His glory, is that nothing impure could stand against it. Those things went up in smoke, and the people were left with the realization that they had been going in the wrong direction, and had followed the wrong pursuits that were also consumed by this Holy fire. 

Now, the Scripture above talks about two kinds of virgins: the wise ones and the foolish ones. Being a virgin in the spirit means to be pure, not contaminated with the influence of another spirit. Someone that discriminates and doesn’t give in to the impurities of the world and its system because their focus is on Jesus and the ways of His Kingdom. They live righteous lives (in right standing with God). This matters to God and He busies Himself with helping us fulfill His destiny for us as His chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation (See 1 Peter 2:9).

We can see how important it is for God to have a people that are pure and righteous on the earth. So much so, that He was willing to start over with a small group of people. After building the arc at the direction of the Lord, the only people who survived the flood and were preserved were Noah and his family because God called Noah the only righteous person before Him in his generation. 

Genesis 7:1

“...It’s time! Go into the ark now. Take your entire household with you, because I see that you are the only one in this generation who lives right before Me.” VOICE

In the parable of the ten virgins, they all seemed to have the same original focus. The Scripture says that they all took their lamps and set out to go and meet the bridegroom. However, something happened along the way that caused five of them to lose their focus—the cares of the world and its lure to achieve things that may seem or sound great, but that didn’t originate in the mind of God. 

Their distraction infused by the spirit of the world caused them to pursue not a vision but an ambition. A vision is the revealed intention of God for us that He planned from the foundations of the world and chose us to carry out on the earth. But an ambition leads people to want to achieve success with determination, skill, and hard work, but aside from the will of God for them. In other words, they waste the oil of the grace of God on things that God did not call them to do.

Habakkuk 2:2

“The Lord answered me, “Write down what I show you. Write it clearly on a sign so that the message will be easy to read.” ERV

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” NKJV

Ecclesiastes 2:21-23

“For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?”  NKJV

Matthew 25 also tells us that the virgins who were called foolish took their lamps and no oil with them, but the wise ones took extra oil with their lamps. This means that the wise virgins maintained their purity by focusing on their pursuit of God’s vision for them. They understood that to carry out this vision successfully, a relationship with Him was their greatest necessity. 

From this relationship, the virgins drew all the oil necessary to advance towards the fulfillment of the vision of God for them through the revelations and strategies they received. In addition, this relationship helped them know and understand the heart of the bridegroom with so much certainty, that they could easily reject anything else that did not look like Him. This also happened to the Samaritan woman. 

John 4:25-26, 28-29

“The woman said, ‘I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus told her, ‘I am the Messiah!’ 

“The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?’” NLT

On the other hand, the distraction of the foolish virgins sidetracked them, weakened them in their faith, and delayed them from the fulfillment of their original vision. It is also obvious that they forsook their relationship with the groom because when they realized that they had focused their attention on the wrong things and needed more oil of the grace of God to course correct and go on the right path, they were told that they had to pay the price for more oil. 

The oil of God’s grace was also designed to help them focus their gaze on the bridegroom as they prepared for His coming. Unfortunately, they missed the hour of His visitation and received an answer to their pleas that they did not bargain for. The groom Himself told them that they could not come in with Him and the wise virgins because He didn’t know them. 

There are two kinds of sudden visitations of the Lord concerning His visions for us: one is when He visits us without our prior knowledge to let us know that He has a vision for us. Two examples are Moses and the Virgin Mary. The Lord visited Moses through the burning bush to let him know that He had a plan for him to carry out on behalf of His people the Israelites who were oppressed through slavery in Egypt. Exodus 3:10 shows us God’s vision for Moses concerning this situation.

“Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.’” NLT

The Virgin Mary was also visited by the Angel Gabriel who announced to her God’s vision to carry in her virgin womb Jesus, the Son of God. Mary’s pure womb represents a life that is right in the sight of God because it is not tainted with any plan or agenda conceived by man, but is filled with the fruit of the vision of God for us. For this, we don’t seek the vision but the God who gives the vision. 

Luke 1:26-28, 30-31

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’...Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” NKJV

The other suddenly comes after God has given us His vision and He expects us to have prepared for His visitation that brings fulfillment. This is what happened to the ten virgins. And as seen, only half of them stayed true to the vision of God for them and prepared properly. They were the ones who entered in with the bridegroom to take part in the manifestation of the vision. The other half experienced rejection because, in the holy fire of the Spirit of God, everything that did not originate with Him is consumed.

To God alone be all the glory. *

Image by Google Images  

How to Identify and Remove our Contamination with the Spiritual Leprosy of This World 5

The Lord had more to say about this topic, and that is why I’m writing one more post to help you, reader, learn some of the ways we could contaminate ourselves with the spirit of this world. We have mentioned in a previous post that as humans, we’re a three-part being. That is, we have a spirit, a soul, and a body. 

When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He came to reside inside of us by His Spirit. This way, He communicates with our spirit. Our job is to feed ourselves with things that strengthen that communion and help us see and hear clearly what He communicates to our spirit. Also, what happens in the spiritual should also happen in the natural, as we nourish our body with things and activities that help it stay strong, so should we find out what can get our spirit strong. 

At the soul level, (our mind, will, and emotions), when we got saved, we changed our nature from sinful to divine. However, this is something we need to learn to adapt to and apply in our daily living. We need to be intentional at renewing our minds to the truth of God’s word and feed ourselves with things that help us walk out our new divine nature since this doesn’t happen automatically. 

The enemy knows this and uses situations to torment us, like rejection, offense, strife, division, or traumatic events that hurt our soul, and if we don’t take steps towards our deliverance, healing, and complete restoration, our mind, will, and emotions begin to be affected, and everything we see and hear then becomes twisted because we then see or hear from the filter of the hurt, trauma, or offense.

The enemy also uses this twisted seeing and hearing to turn us against others, especially those he used to hurt, offend, or cause us the trauma and others around us. This also leaves us with triggers that could lead us to react with anger, rage, bitterness, unforgiveness, and resentment because our mind, will, and emotions have been compromised through the hurts and traumas. Therefore, our retaliation comes against the people and not the real enemy.

Other times, the issue lies in our need to remove the spiritual clogs or blocks to the flow of God’s living water. It cannot flow out of us properly when we don’t turn to the source of this living water which is Jesus to make sure that our “spiritual pipes” are cleaned up by the washing of His Word. Instead, we tend to clog up the pipes with dirt, or make the waters murky by watching, listening, or reading polluted material. Also when we keep the wrong company or frequent the wrong places we can pick up attachments to the demonic from which we need deliverance because those attachments influence us away from the will of God for our lives.

What happens in all these cases, is that our spiritual gates are open and whatever we allow in on a constant basis is what flows out of us. We need to be careful and more diligent in caring for our soul and what we feed it, especially when we pour what we have on others on a continuous basis. Many things may be permissible and available out there, but not everything we consume or allow to enter our gates is beneficial for us and others if we want our soul to prosper and help others in the prosperity of their soul.

1 Corinthians 10:23-24

“All things are lawful [that is, morally legitimate, permissible], but not all things are beneficial or advantageous. All things are lawful, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life]. Let no one seek [only] his own good, but [also] that of the other person.” AMP

Proverbs 4:23

“Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” AMP

In essence, when we feed ourselves with the wrong things, the Holy Spirit cannot flow freely out of us because He is HOLY (pure and righteous). And for Him to flow out of us freely, we need to constantly feed ourselves with pure and righteous things. Pop culture is good at providing entertainment, but so much of that can pollute us and twist us in our thinking, talking, and behaving. 

John 14:30

“...The one who rules the world is stepping forward, and he has no part in Me;” VOICE

The only way we can speak the words of Jesus and say that the enemy has no part in us is when we allow the Lord to process us and take us through His fire that consumes the pollution of the world, helps us renew our minds to the truth of His Word which produces things in our lives that please Him, and allow His Spirit to flow rivers of living water out of us. If murky waters are what flows out of us, then, those who drink from this pollution will also become polluted. This pollution also gets in the way of our authority to resist the devil.

John 7:38

“If you believe in Me, the Hebrew Scriptures say that rivers of living water will flow from within you.” VOICE

James 4:7-8

“So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

NLT

As I heard Pastor Kent Christmas say, and I’m paraphrasing, the intentions of the Lord for those who receive what we pour out on them don’t come from our gifts and talents, our eloquence, our pedigrees, or our positions and titles. They flow out of what we feed ourselves with. When we drink consistently from the pure waters of the presence of the Lord, this increases the power and authority of the Holy Spirit in us. 

Ephesians 1:4

“God chose us to be in a relationship with Him even before He laid out plans for this world; He wanted us to live holy lives characterized by love, free from sin, and blameless before Him.” VOICE

This Scripture is so powerful in describing God’s intentions for us from the foundations of the world. First, we didn’t choose ourselves. He chose us to be in a deep and meaningful relationship with Him. In Genesis, He first prepared the place and environment for man to dwell and co-rule with Him. But in this Scripture God is saying that He first had us in mind, and then He created the world for us to rule over with Him. And this can only be sustained when we drink from His living waters. 

Drinking from His living waters is what helps us live holy lives (set apart for Him, consecrated, and driven to fulfill His purpose for us). Thus, our relationship with Him and our lives purposely lived for the praise of His glory is what will help us be characterized by love, free from sin, and blameless before Him. Now blameless doesn’t mean perfect. Perfection means spiritual maturity. Blameless actually means that we keep ourselves from the pollution of the world by drinking from His water of life for He alone is our source. Therefore, because unclean waters don’t produce a pure drink, we’re  responsible for keeping our spiritual pipes clean and unclogged. 

Besides, feeding ourselves with the wrong things of the world,  gets us deeper in bondage, not in freedom. Sadly, it doesn’t stop there. Remember also that contamination is contagious and if we serve others contaminated food, we increase their chances of getting food poisoning. And food poisoning doesn’t only come from stale food, it can also come from food that was not fully prepared in us. That is why allowing God’s complete process in us is important if we call ourselves Christian believers, no matter the industry where we work and serve others. Be it education, family, Media, arts and entertainment, the marketplace, government, and even the Church.

Matthew 7:16-20

“You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” NLT

Ephesians 4:27 

“and give no opportunity to the devil.” ESV 

To God alone be all the glory. *

Image by Google Images 

How to Identify and Remove our Contamination with the Spiritual Leprosy of This World 4

 

In resuming from the last post of this series, our ultimate source of everything we need is God. Having a steadfast relationship with Him involves an exchange where He gives us things such as revelations and authority to pray and advance in our calling, healing, and energy to fulfill His purpose, provision from where we give back to Him and have our needs met. These and other things He does should drive us to live full of gratitude and with a song of praise to Him in our mouth. We cannot out-give our God, but what He wants is our heart sold out to Him.

Therefore, another proof of our contamination with the spiritual leprosy of this world, is that it makes us think that we own everything we possess or have accomplished on this earth. Not only does God own the whole earth and everything in it, but the inhabitants of the world are also His. For this reason, He gives us the wisdom and power to accomplish what we’re created to do in partnership with Him. But when we employ the wisdom of this world to create or succeed, those possessions and accomplishments are eventually taken away. 

Ecclesiastes 2:21

“Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy.” NLT

Daniel 4:30-32 

“the king uttered foolish words:...Isn’t Babylon a great city? I have built this royal residence from the ground up with my own might and ingenuity to honor my own majesty. The words had scarcely left his lips when another voice thundered from heaven...King Nebuchadnezzar, these solemn words are for you. The kingdom has been taken away from you. You will be driven away from all that is human, and you will live in the company of wild animals. You will be forced to eat grass like oxen. Seven times will pass until you learn your lesson and acknowledge that it is the High God, and no other, who is the true sovereign over all kingdoms on earth, and He grants authority to anyone He wishes.”  VOICE

As the Scripture highlights, King Nebuchadnezzar was forced to spend seven seasons in the wilderness of testing designed to remove his contamination with the leprosy of the world. He was no longer allowed by God to rule in his condition. The decisions he was making before this were turning the people in his kingdom away from the Lord, and those who chose to remain faithful to God’s rulership over their lives were thrown into a fiery furnace. But God intervened and saved their lives at the same time that He proved that only He is God and not a golden statue.

Once the King’s contamination was removed, he was restored to his position of power to rule over Babylon, but this time with his eyes open to the truth and reality that God is the only One who rules, and none can compare to Him. He does what He wishes in Heaven and on earth. By the test the king endured, he learned that no one can stop God’s hand from acting, and no one can question what He does. After this realization, Daniel 4:37 tells us how Nebuchadnezzar’s view of  God and His ways changed.

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, acknowledge the true King of heaven. I praise, lift up, and glorify Him because all He does is true, all His ways are just, and He is able to cut down those who strut about in their pride.” VOICE

Another common aspect of a person contaminated with the leprosy of this world is that although they love the Lord and want to serve Him with all their heart, and go beyond seeking restoration and freedom from oppression for themselves, yet their contaminated state keeps them from seeing their bondage. In this position, they’re not able to cast out of others the very thing that also has them bound. 

Matthew 7:3-5 

“‘And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” NLT

It is easy for them to see where others are struggling, but they don’t realize that they too are oppressed. There are times when this is not that obvious, especially with people who are constantly helping others and pouring unto them. Their continual drive to give to others causes them to forget many times that they too need to take breaks and allow the Lord to minister healing and deliverance to them. When this is not done, they open the way to contamination. 

Then, what starts happening is that, when they’re trying to speak a word of deliverance or to lay hands on others, what they’re doing is transmitting their contamination. In other words, instead of setting them free, the spirit they’re now of is released unto those they’re trying to help. This makes things worse for them and also for the person on the receiving end. Sadly, what has transpired many times is that not until God brings their contaminated state to their attention, sometimes publicly, do they will seek the help they need. 

Luke 9:55-56 

“But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For  the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them...”  NKJV

I have seen this happening several times and it has even happened to me when someone, even people in leadership, laid hands on me and I ended up having to spend time getting rid of the demonic cloud I sensed around me after that person touched me. I learned some important lessons from those experiences. Things like not allowing just anyone to lay hands on me, and that as we mature, we can receive what God is doing during a service right where we are without having to go forward for prayer. 

Another way this shows is when people do things in the name of God but outside of their sphere of influence and authority, or out of the timing of the Lord. Many zealous people ignore their call to process before they can go and serve Him according to His purpose. Those times of process are designed to remove contamination and to develop the anointing necessary to break the yoke of oppression of those we’re called to serve. Not completing our process, and even worse, not allowing God to process us leaves us without the necessary ingredients that make our calling effective and without being able to cast out of others what still has us bound. 

Acts 19:13-16

“A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.”  NLT

Why did this happen? because they were still under the influence of the very thing they were trying to remove from another. As long as we’re still under the influence of the spirit of this world, we don’t have the authority or legal right to tell it to go and it won’t go. What we need is to be processed out of our contamination. Being processed should not make us afraid since we have the Holy Spirit to guide us. The danger for us and others is when we ignore the call to enter in. And as we saw with King Nebuchadnezzar, what resulted is that the season to be processed out of contamination overtook him with force.

Likewise, an even greater loss can come to those who refuse to be processed by the Lord. Things like what happened to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. During their rulership, the hearts of the people of Israel turned away from God. They also killed many of God’s prophets and oppressed the people by stealing their possessions for their pleasures. In their contaminated state, they thought they would never see the consequences of their corrupt ways until the Lord rose to defend their victims. In the end, the two rulers and their entire house died. 

Many say they’re waiting on God to heal and deliver them, others devise futile plans to escape their process (See Psalm 2), but God’s waiting on them to step in and allow His fire to burn them out of contamination. The Bible says that the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him (See 2 Chronicles 16:9). This Scripture also refers to those who choose to take His hand to come out of the captivity, bondage, and oppression of the leprosy of the world caused by Satan who rules it.

In all these cases, our battle is against the spirit of fear which is the door to contamination. There is fear of the unknown when we’re trying to obey what God tells us to do, but we can still do it afraid. In this case, our trust in Him overpowers fear, and we see the reward of our trust: His faithfulness to guide us and let us know that He’s right there for us. But we succumb to the spirit of fear when we think we’re going to lose or miss out on life or when we care more about our reputation than God’s will for us. But God, in His love and mercy, is calling us to die to the desires of our flesh and be counted among those described in Revelation 12:1

“And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.” NLT

2 Timothy 1:7

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” NLT

To God alone be all the glory. *

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How to Identify and Remove our Contamination with the Spiritual Leprosy of This World 3

Keeping our Temple Free of Contamination 

As we continue with this series, it’s important to note that with all these temptations against our body, our soul, and our spirit, the enemy is looking for our worship. Our body, soul, and our spirit are all components of the temple of the Holy Spirit. We’re the temple the Lord created for His worship, not to worship the work of our hands or any other idol. 

The luring of the enemy that Adam and Eve succumbed to twisted them in their view of God and disfigured them in their soul (what they thought, in their emotions, and their willpower). This twisting caused  their flesh and emotions to rule their actions through fear. All this was what the enemy needed to cause them to run from the presence of the Lord and hide from Him. 

Adam forgot that everything he had accomplished so far in the Garden came from standing in the presence of the Lord. The wisdom he received to give every animal its proper name came from being in the presence of the Lord. In the same way, God is interested in us. He wants us to spend time with Him. Like Adam did before the fall, we obtain every single thing to function on this earth from His presence. 

As we’re steadfast in spending time with Him we can take His presence with us wherever we go. Then we can boldly ask someone if we can pray for them, or maybe we need to pray for them without letting them know if that’s what the situation calls for by releasing the virtue of Jesus for their healing, or His peace to their hearts if you see them scared or worried. 

Atmospheres can also change when we arrive at a place, release the atmosphere of heaven, and invite the Holy Spirit to move among us. We can invite God’s Kingdom into everything we do and everywhere we go. It’s not mystical to invite the Lord Jesus, His Holy Spirit, angelic assistance in what we do, and even ask the Father to intervene in our situations because we’re growing in our Heaven consciousness in our daily living. These are some of the ways we act as conduits of the glory of God o the earth.

The intention of the enemy was to move us away from this wholesome relationship with God where we delight in each other’s presence and can hear of the great things He wants to do in us and through us, just like He did with Adam and Eve before the fall. Thankfully, Jesus was able to restore that relationship with the Father for us with His death on the Cross and the shedding of His Blood. 

After all, all the things we could give to God come from the grace and mercy He extends to us. The praises due to Him, our prayers, our reading of His Word, the revelations we receive, any offerings and thanksgiving, already come from Him to us. He’s our only source for us to give and receive from Him. It’s like when our dad gives us money to buy Him a Father’s Day present. We’re giving to Him because He first gave to us.

Romans 11:35-36 says,

“Or who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.” AMP

Therefore, our greatest gift to the Lord does not come from our hands but from our hearts. He does not want us to seek Him for what we can give to Him, but to give our hearts to Him. Just like the people we love, we demonstrate our love to them when we spend precious time with them and share in the things that please them. We can give them all the gifts in the world, but without our presence in their lives, those gifts are meaningless. 

We were created to desire His presence and worship Him with all our heart, not to be preoccupied with doing and toiling and then give Him the scraps of our tired body and the last few minutes before we go to sleep. He wants us to make Him first and to desire His presence. Mary and Martha give us a perfect example of this. 

Luke 10:38-42 tells us,

“Now while they were on their way, Jesus entered a village [called Bethany], and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was continually listening to His teaching. But Martha was very busy and distracted with all of her serving responsibilities; and she approached Him and said, 

“‘Lord, is it of no concern to You that my sister has left me to do the serving alone? Tell her to help me and do her part.’ But the Lord replied to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered and anxious about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part [that which is to her advantage], which will not be taken away from her.’” AMP

Many people are wearing Martha’s shoes of taking on many responsibilities. However, this is not possible without knowing that what we’re doing is first, His will for us, we’re doing those things within our assigned jurisdiction, and in the right timing of God for us. We want to walk with the Lord and have Him hold our hand, not walk ahead or behind Him, or even worse, far away from Him. 

The only way we can do the greater exploits Jesus promised we will do than He is when we have a strong relationship with Him that helps us know Him and His heart for every situation we encounter. This way, we know that what we do is according to His will, His way, and His timing. I heard someone call these the original World Wide Web “www.” This way, we yoke ourselves to Him, and the Bible tells us that His yoke for us is easy and His burden is light. 

Matthew 11:28-30 

“Come to  Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you  and learn from Me, for I am  gentle and  lowly in heart,  and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’”  NKJV

John 14:13

“‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”  NKJV

Daniel 11:32

“And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”  KJV

The Amplified Version explains what this means.

“With smooth words [of flattery and praise] he will turn to godlessness those who [are willing to] disregard the [Mosaic] covenant, but the people who [are spiritually mature and] know their God will display strength and take action [to resist].” AMP

More on the next post. And as always, to God alone be all the glory. *

Image by Google Images 

How to Identify and Remove our Contamination with the Spiritual Leprosy of This World 2

Continuing with this series, we mentioned that spiritual leprosy produced by the influence of the spirit of this world is contagious and its fruit is self-focus for the wrong reasons.  The fear of going without that grips these people causes them to become driven by selfish ambitions with little to no concern for how others may be affected by their words or actions. 

This is what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says that the serpent used subtle, skilled deceit and with it, he lured Eve to question what God had said. The confusion of the enemy also caused Eve to not be sure about what God had said, so, she ate and also gave to her husband to eat. Her disobedience to the command of the Lord to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil brought death to their dreams and derailment from their purpose.

The contamination with the spirit of this world made them think that they could be like God knowing good and evil. This came from discovering the dark things of the world that give a false sense of power and strength to achieve, but by means that are far from the will of God and His relationship with humankind. Thus, the enemy appealed to her hunger for things instead of a hunger for righteousness (being in right standing with God). (See Matthew 5:6). 

Then, the serpent lured her through the sight of her eyes. He showed her a vision of all the possible things she could have or own by the work of her hands and also by applying corrupt wisdom that makes us appear successful. However, this success is not lasting nor is it complete because it comes from fear and inner turmoil which can turn into pride and idolatry that turn us away from a solid and deep relationship with the Living God. 

When both Adam and Eve took a bite of the fruit of the tree their eyes were open and now they could see their nakedness. This nakedness came from their realization that they had walked away from God and His sovereign covering under His wings. (Read Genesis 3:1-7). But in Matters 4:3-10 Jesus shows us how the enemy came to Him with the exact type of luring that he comes to all of us with to get us contaminated with his wickedness. However, Jesus resisted him. 

Verses 3-4 say, “And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But Jesus replied, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’” AMP

Proverbs 2:6 

For the Lord gives [skillful and godly] wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” AMP

Just like it happened to Adam and Eve, and to Jesus, this luring of the enemy appealing to their hunger was an attack against their bodies. Not only does the Word says that our priority should be to respond with obedience to every word that comes from God’s mouth concerning our provision and how we satisfy our needs. We should do that following His will so that we don’t bring the contamination of the world and its spirit of Mammon which is a spirit of greed and false power. 

John 4:34

Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to completely finish His work.” AMP

What’s more, the Bible tells us that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are not our property. We’re the property of God and His Kingdom, and Jesus our King bought us with the high price of His Blood shed for us. As we come to this realization, we must learn to honor God by doing His will for our bodies and not feed ourselves polluted or contaminated things that don’t glorify Him (Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). 

Verses 5-7 continue,

“Then the devil took Him into the holy city [Jerusalem] and placed Him on the pinnacle (highest point) of the temple. And he said [mockingly] to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You [to serve, care for, protect and watch over You]’; and ‘They will lift you up on  their hands, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone .’’ Jesus said to him, ‘On the other hand, it is written and forever remains written, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God.’” AMP

This was an attack against the soul of man. By suggesting that Jesus throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, the enemy was telling Him to take the risk and give his soul to the devil. He was promising a false sense of protection in exchange for his soul. But the Bible says in Mark 8:35-38, 

“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’” NLT

Matthew 4:8-10 continues,

“Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory [splendor, magnificence, and excellence] of them; and he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go away, Satan! For it is written and forever remains written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”” AMP

The most important thing to note in the passage of Matthew 4:3-10 is that Jesus understood His Sonship and position as heir of the Kingdom. From this stance, He could counteract the seduction of the enemy with the truth of the Word. In the same way, we must come against the luring lies of the enemy by understanding our identity as sons and daughters of God and by speaking the truth of His Word over our lives and apply it in our daily living. In this final attack, the enemy came against the spirit of man. In other words, he wanted Jesus to worship him. 

Romans 6:16 

“Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”

The weakness of our human nature leads us to impure living and lawlessness which drive us deeper into sin. This sinful nature also gives us a false grace that makes us think there will be no consequences from choosing to walk on the wrong path. This causes us to live in shame and even eternal doom if there is no repentance. But when we become slaves of righteous living, we learn to live as holy people, set apart to fulfill God’s purpose for our life. Hence, through Jesus, we can be free from the power of sin and become slaves of God which leads to eternal life. 

Romans 6:23 says,

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” NLT

More on the next post. And as always, to God alone be all the glory. *

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How to Identify a Person’s Contamination with the Spiritual Leprosy of This World 1

2 Kings 5:1

“The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.” NLT

It is interesting to see in this Scripture that Naaman held a prestigious position that made him successful and highly favored as a commander and servant of the army of Aram. Yet, he suffered from leprosy. According to léxico.com leprosy is a contagious disease that, among other things, affects the skin and nerves, and causes disfigurement and deformities. 

In the things of the spirit, this can be compared to what happens to a person that is contaminated with the influence of the spirit of this world. The ruler of this world, Satan, has veiled their minds (their hearts) from seeing the truth about God, His Word, and the ways of His Kingdom, thus, they reject and oppose whatever doctrine does not conform to the wickedness (twisted nature) of their thinking. 

2 Corinthians 4:4 explains this to us,

“among them the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving to prevent them from seeing the illuminating light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” AMP

This veil causes the heart of the unbeliever to harden and reject the Word of God for lack of understanding. When I say unbeliever, I’m also including people who have invited Jesus into their hearts and even call themselves believers. For many of them, as soon as they hear the Word, the evil one snatches away any good and holiness that is sown in their heart and there’s no lasting fruit of holiness seen in their life (See Matthew 13:18-19). 

The only thing that removes this veil is when we give our heart completely to Christ and to His lordship over our lives. The light of the glory of God comes to us when we receive true salvation and begins to open our eyes to the truth of His transforming Gospel that helps us come out of the twistedness and disfigurement of our thinking and beliefs brought by all the lies of the enemy and the systems of this world that we trusted and believed in.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 adds,

“but whenever a person turns [in repentance and faith] to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.” AMP

The Bible tells us that the leprosy of this world is characterized by the allure of pleasure where our senses and emotions, and selfish ambitions drive our actions. We’re passionately driven to have and own things that in reality end up owning our heart away from God and His ways. This contamination also gives us a pompous sense of superiority that causes us to think more highly of ourselves than we should. 

This contamination can also blind us of our wrong ways, so much that it could easily bring us to pursue our bright shining and at the same time we’re willing to turn the light off on those we feel threatened by because they may express a level of success that comes from their understanding of their true identity in Christ no matter what they may be going through.

1 John 2:16-17 tells us,

“For all that is in the world—the lust and sensual craving of the flesh and the lust and longing of the eyes and the boastful pride of life [pretentious confidence in one’s resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father, but are from the world. The world is passing away, and with it its lusts [the shameful pursuits and ungodly longings]; but the one who does the will of God and carries out His purposes lives forever.” AMP

As seen in some of the descriptions mentioned, spiritual leprosy has a fruit. This fruit, however, is not as obvious until we hear the person contaminated with it when they open their mouth. What drives their conversations and the intended end from encounters with them is their focus on self and how much they can gain by the methods they use to get what they want. Though this may appear innocent, the thought of how what they say or do could affect others doesn’t cross their twisted mindset. 

Matthew 7:15-20 also says,

“‘Beware of the false prophets, [teachers] who come to you dressed as sheep [appearing gentle and innocent], but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them [that is, by their contrived doctrine and self-focus]. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the unhealthy tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruit you will recognize them [as false prophets].” AMP

The Bible also says that this contamination is contagious and the enemy uses tricky dirty ways to attract a person to it. This means that this is a spiritual enemy that we may not see with our natural eye for the people contaminated come in all dress and sizes. But it can rub on us without our realization. Suddenly, we may find ourselves following the wrong habits of others we have allowed in our inner circle. If they’re gossipers and slanderers, for example, or lazy, fearful or angry, and reject God and His ways, sooner or later we will find ourselves giving in to those temptations too. 

Galatians 5:9 shares,

“You know what they say, “Just a little yeast causes all the dough to rise,” so even the slightest detour from the truth will take you to a destination you do not desire.” VOICE

More on the next post. And as always, to God alone be all the glory. *

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